21 THE NEW YORKER at least a general idea of the sort of material that is not suitable for THE NEW YORKER. What is suitable, as I said before, is another and far more intricate matter. My own feel- ing is that, even if I knew, I would be doing your readers a poor service by telling them. Life would be a pretty dull business without a certain amount of struggle. At least it seems that way to me. Sincerely yours, MR. WINTERBOTTOM for THE NEW YORKER 7. THE NEW YORKER does not f h . k h ". " avor w at IS nown as t e surpnse ending. Final paragraphs in which a character, previously unidentified, sud- denly turns out to be a water spaniel, or a child, or President Hoover, do not surprise the editors. They are tired and saddened when they think of the number of trees that must be cut down to make paper for this sort of thing, but not surprised. script. She asked for a second revision. The thing went on in this manner, un- til, at the time of the author's death a month ago, thirty-four versions had been submitted without, however, achieving a form satisfactory to all the members of the staff. At the present time I understand that a surviving son is prepared to carryon the work. The difficulty in this case, of course, lay in the editors' congenital inability to cope with machinery, a quality which has not diminished with the years. W HILE the above summary does not pretend to be exhaustive, I fee] that it ought to give your readers 6. Sex. See Machinery. . . LINE.S TO ßE MUMßLE.D AT OVINGTON'5 "..,, . ?k ! W::./ ., .,# , jf:7' . ,:. i. ,.,.,1' '="J /"" Mr. and Mrs. F. X. Pleasants Request the honor of my presence On Saturday the twenty-fourth To watch their daughter, Barbara North, Succumb in holy matrimony To Mr. Maximilian Coney. A murrain on you, Mr. and Mrs. Pleasants! I hope you turn 'lnto friends of Annie B esant' s ! 4 ,J ---"':--:'. -:: :i'i ) , ' } .;. ": t1 :2 : . \,., Bishop Apse will do the trick; He's just the kind that mothers pick. He has a noble velvet voice That makes a mother's heart rejoice And fills a mother's handkerchief With briny evidence of grief. A murrain on you too, old Bishop Apse! I hope you get caught in some vicious moral lapse! "Oh , don't cry! I'm going to get it for you." t ' .,., iOj'" , :"'6:'l',ø4 /' '" .; The ushers in their coats of black Will lead old ladies forth and back, While bridesmaids in their flowery frocks Bloom round the bride like hollyhocks. Who knows but what some sidelong glance Will propagate a new romance? A murrain on every bridesmaid and every usher! I hope they all get spattered with oil from a gusher! . .":" I '.,.,,:>r ,1 x ..iJ " .." f II ' .., ..' " ....... . ". - - . , , . .. . ,; ," 1:: : ;0 :::::::. 2 :è":;:j :,: 5: ':\ "i ..,', ' ,,", \ I'll wish some wishes for Mr. Coney In honor of his matrimony. I wish him moths, I wish him mice, I wish him cocktails lacking ice. I wish him a life abrupt and lonely, I wish him a wife in title only. A murrain, a murrain upon you, Maximilian! If I wish you one death before evening I UJÏsh you a billion! ':: , "'::: -::. >> .. ."} ... "'=;"; :;,;;, -:" ' '/' '." :. , . ;:c.' ::"7Ø!"':/ ... 10 \41 ' , Y " ,", -J" "' " , ': " '. :.'" -ø' ""':'::"..; ...7:: . . ...."-;' . ." .. .. - ....:.;... . .-. , .' ""'- .tf': ? "'", :<< ". :--:--: . 1' . . .)'....... v.... ....... ; 4W-4..::': :" ..,',,'...'''$. "." ...$r.c:" .." ,. . i? '::;;: t: ; " , What have I left for Barbara North Who changes her name on the twenty-fourth? A hundred theatre-ticket stubs, Receipted bills from supper clubs, An angry florIst's dunning note, A streak of powder on my coat- A lesser soul of spite would be a harborer; Not I. No murrain at all upon you, Ba:rbara! -OGDEN NASH , --,:;=: #-" ,' 1."':1." t ..,; ..J'............ ,."?;',.. " / .,,-.:....